“2-September-2009: As ROPOS touches down on the sediment next to the drillhead, an octopus watches warily from its lair at Ocean Drilling Platform 2016B (2660m below sea level). When ROPOS grasps an anemone-festooned rope, the startled animal shrinks into a pink ball. A short while later, as ROPOS prepares to fasten the rope to the drillhead, the octopus first lurks in the sediment, then flaps its web and flies off into the darkness.”

Looks like a Vulcanoctopus almost, I wonder if one our octopus experts out there can confirm… Thanks to Neptune Canada and other organizations out there for making these little moments available for us to see!

That’s really interesting! Thx for the ref. But even if Vulcanoctopus is a subset of Benthoctopus, I’d still guess this particular octopus is more likely a different, “non-Vulcanoctopus” Benthoctopus. Supposedly Vulcanoctopus is a vent endemic… is Platform 2016B near a vent?